373
Fashion Jobs
SHISEIDO
FP&A Manager (Korean Only)
Permanent · SEOUL
AESOP
Aesop Hanam Starfield - Retail Consultant
Permanent · HANAM-SI
ADIDAS
Senior Specialist, Buying & Trading, E-Commerce
Permanent · SEOUL
ADIDAS
Manager, Personalization & Apps, E-Commerce
Permanent · SEOUL
ADIDAS
Senior Manager, Legal Counsel, Legal
Permanent · SEOUL
HENKEL
Finance Business Controller For Shiseido Professional Brand
Permanent ·
L'OREAL GROUP
[l'Oreal Korea] Kiehl's - CRM & Trade Mkt sr. Specialist~Manager
Permanent · SEOUL
L'OREAL GROUP
[l'Oreal Korea] (jr.) Claim Substantiation Specialist - Corporate Regulatory Affairs
Permanent · SEOUL
L'OREAL GROUP
[l'Oreal Korea] (sr.) Product Manager - Kerastase Marketing Team, Ppd
Permanent · SEOUL
UNDER ARMOUR
Associate, HR Administration
Permanent · SEOUL
ARKET
Visual Merchandising Manager
Permanent · BUSAN
PUIG
Marketing Manager
Permanent · SEOUL
JAEGER
[Jaeger Lecoultre] Marketing & Communication Director
Permanent · SEOUL
ESTÉE LAUDER COMPANIES
Corporate Account Executive For Travel Retail Korea, Estee Lauder Companies
Permanent ·
ESTÉE LAUDER - BRAND
Assistant Education Manager, Estee Lauder
Permanent · SEOUL
L'OREAL GROUP
[l'Oreal Korea] Luxe Div. - Lancome E-Commerce Specialist
Permanent · SEOUL
COS
Instore Visual Merchandiser Manager_seoul/Gyeonggi
Permanent · SEOUL METROPOLITAN AREA
AESOP
Shinsegae Gwangju - Retail Consultant
Permanent · GWANGJU
COACH
Manager, Ecommerce
Permanent · SEOUL
ADIDAS
Manager, Business Planning & Analysis, Wholesales
Permanent · SEOUL
HENKEL
Adhesive Key Account Manager For Sports And Fashion Market
Permanent · BUSAN
HENKEL
Consumer Brands General Manager Assistant
Permanent ·
By
Reuters
Published
Jan 14, 2007
Reading time
2 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Money and memories grow on trees: exhibit

By
Reuters
Published
Jan 14, 2007

By Julie Mollins

TORONTO, Jan 12 (Reuters Life!) - Contrary to popular belief, money can grow on trees and so can memories, according to the organizers of an exhibition chronicling the use of bark cloth.

For centuries Trobriand Islanders from the South Pacific used the leaves of the banana tree as paper currency.

But the leaf also played a role in making bark cloth which is made from the inner bark of certain tropical trees. Bark cloth is made by pounding the inner bark into thin sheets.

Over the years it has been used to make clothing, purses, even ceremonial wrappings for corpses, earning itself a place in people's memories by featuring in ceremonial events.

When Britain's Queen Elizabeth visited Tonga in the South Pacific in 1953 she was invited to walk on a section of bark-cloth carpet rolled in front of her.

"It's full of symbolic representation," said curator Max Allen of the "Cloth That Grows On Trees" exhibit at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto.

The idea of stripping bark from trees to remove the regenerative soft inner layer, making it pliable and soft enough to create a range of wearable products from loincloths to purses, is thought to have first begun in around 4,000 BC in southeastern China.

After the bark is stripped from the tree it can regenerate itself beneath banana leaves wrapped around its trunk.

The practice of stretching and pounding the bark with stone on a wooden anvil to create cloth moved from China to Indonesia to the South Pacific.

During the Second World War a piece of cloth paid tribute to the friendship among Tonga, Britain and the United States with a design depicting the American Eagle, the British lion and the Tongan coat of arms.

Several Hawaiian aloha shirts show how bark-cloth patterns, which are traditionally painted, stenciled or transferred by pigment rubbings, were incorporated into modern day fashion trends.

"It's the primitive version of TV in that it tells the collective story," Allen said of the exhibit, which is on show until April. "It's a communication system."

But the material is also used in contemporary industry with the museum selling some bark cloth products like wallets, purses and pillows made by a cooperative in Uganda.

This year, the German Ministry of Economics and Technology nominated bark cloth for a prestigious design award with the material, known commercially as Barktex and Dekodur, used in interior design as well as upholstery materials, carpets and mobile phone cases.

"These nominations are well deserved because it's so ingenious -- even more important is the sustainability aspect," Allen said.

© Thomson Reuters 2024 All rights reserved.